Nuclear Energy: Waste Disposal Problem

Fred mildly disagreed with my position on nuclear energy. I admit that I was too “SciFi” in my blog. The point was that all nuclear energy problems are self-imposed and merely cost functions. Nuclear waste, theoretically, can be reused to generate more nuclear energy. But they can also be used as highly destructive weapons. For fear of the misuse, we self-regulate ourselves to forbid the better solutions. Given that, the rest is basically about cost.

I happened to meet someone who has been studying nuclear waste disposal for several decades. He told me the current method is to put the spent rod in a cylinder filled with self-sealing material and bury it several hundred meters under-ground at a geo-stable site. International treaties have forbidden deep-sea disposal methods. There has also been a ban on “nuclear waste export”, supposedly stopping rich countries from using poor ones as their cheap dump sites.

“Why can’t we just shoot them to the sun?” I asked naively. “There are two problems,” he answered. “If the rocket explodes mid-air, it simply becomes a nuclear bomb. Secondly, it costs more to shoot them out than burying them deep.” We then, intoxicated by strong drinks, engaged in a long conversation on how to deliver nuclear waste into space safely, and cheaply. (“What if we float the waste up in a giant balloon, then ignite the rocket to finish the second leg of the journey?” “Hmm, someone could shoot it down.”)

The disposal methodology is an over-constrained problem and therefore has no good solution. We need to come back and relax the original constraints and allow the reuse of nuclear waste. If that can be done successfully, there will be no toxic waste that comes out of those plants. Cheap energy, no environmental impact, everyone’s happy.

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